In the first of a series of articles in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Delaware County Daily Times reports on the ever-changing landscape of breast cancer research and treatment. “It’s a whole new world,” said Ari D. Brooks, MD, director of the Division of Endocrine and Oncologic Surgery and director of the Integrated Breast Center at Pennsylvania Hospital who is featured throughout the article. “It used to be, ‘You have breast cancer.’ And, that was it.” Referring to the American Cancer Society statistics, Brooks said the number of deaths from breast cancer peaked in the early 1990s, when the rate was 36 deaths per 100,000 diagnoses. In 2010, that number decreased to 22 per 100,000. “It’s gone down by a third,” said Brooks, adding that survivors are living longer after diagnosis and treatment. “Over 80 percent of our breast cancer patients are going to be surviving for the long term, 10, 12 years at least,” Brooks said. “If you think of baseball, if your team hits the ball 82 percent of the time, your team would always be going to the World Series.” Brooks goes on to explain the benefits of Penn’s multi-disciplinary approach to patient care.